With the ''Space Strategy for Europe'' from the European Commission and the new ESA roadmap on the table, the European space stakeholders will have the great opportunity to debate and influence, at the highest level, the medium and long term development of European space programmes and of the spread of space services in many economic and societal activities as well as in a wide range of public fields, including security and defence. Download Conference Agenda | Register to a...

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed a planet outside our solar system that looks as black as fresh asphalt because it eats light rather than reflecting it back into space. This light-eating prowess is due to the planet's unique capability to trap at least 94 percent of the visible starlight falling into its atmosphere. The oddball exoplanet, called WASP-12b, is one of a class of so-called "hot Jupiters," gigantic, gaseous planets that orbit very close to their host ...

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) will continue its support for NOAA's Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System program that ingests and analyzes weather data, creating useful visualizations for forecasters and distributing time-sensitive weather statements such as watches and warnings across the United States. Used by more than 140 National Weather Service field offices, the AWIPS program informs decisions that save lives and protect property during natural disasters. Under the $269 mill...

The international Cassini mission has concluded its remarkable exploration of the Saturnian system in spectacular style, by plunging into the gas planet's atmosphere. Confirmation of the end of mission arrived at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at 11:55 GMT/13:55 CEST with the loss of the spacecraft's signal having occurred 83 minutes earlier at Saturn, some 1.4 billion km from Earth. With the rocket propellant for manoeuvering the spacecraft fully expended as planned touring Saturn and i...

Four of the latest set of Galileo navigation satellites will be launched on Ariane 6 rockets - ESA's first contract to use Europe's new vehicle. The launches are scheduled between the end of 2020 and mid-2021, using two Ariane 62 rockets - the configuration of Europe's next-generation launch vehicle that is best suited to haul the two 750 kg navigation satellites into their orbits at 23 222 km altitude. Under development, Ariane 6 is Europe's newest launcher, designed to extend guaranteed ...

The Space Alliance, formed by Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67%, Leonardo 33%) and Telespazio (Leonardo 67%, Thales 33%), today signed a partnership with the US-based company Spaceflight Industries which includes the following elements: A minority investment in Spaceflight Industries, which through its BlackSky business, has developed a geospatial platform and plans to build and operate a constellation of 60 small high-resolution observation satellites featuring very short revisit times; ...

Lockheed Martin (LM) unveiled a new small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that has been designed and developed in the UK at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI). OUTRIDER is a lightweight, canister launched UAS that has been designed by engineers at Lockheed Martin UK's Havant facility in partnership with Wirth Research, an engineering company with specialisation in aerodynamics and composite materials. At only four inches wide and weighing only 1.7 kilograms, it is designed...

Orbital ATK, a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, today announced significant progress on the industry's first commercial in-space satellite servicing system. The Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1) spacecraft successfully completed its critical design review earlier this year and is now in production with about 75% of the platform and payload components already delivered to the company's Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Virginia. The spacecraft will begin system-level testi...

Boeing will design and build seven super-powered medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites for SES, delivering efficient high-performance data communications services to users around the world. The O3b mPOWER satellites will include Boeing's most-advanced digital payload technology and will be built using electronics from the flight-proven 702 satellite platform customized to support the unique MEO environment. "With this new technology and design, Boeing is able to build satellites faster and m...

EchoStar Corporation and Lockheed Martin announced today that the EchoStar III satellite has been successfully recovered following an anomaly that occurred in late July and retired per the FCC regulations. "After the initial loss of contact, with a joint effort by EchoStar and Lockheed Martin, a command and control link was reestablished and deorbit maneuvers performed" said Derek de Bastos, chief technology officer for EchoStar Satellite Services L.L.C. "EchoStar III is now safely in a grave...

Orbital ATK, a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, recently completed an important qualification test of the avionics system for the solid rocket boosters the company has developed and is now manufacturing for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). Completion of this milestone is an important step toward preparing the SLS and Orion spacecraft for their first flight in 2019. Two Orbital ATK-developed five-segment rocket boosters will be used on each SLS launch to help provide initial ...

Launch is the most strenuous part of a satellite's life. To survive the extreme sound wave pressure and pounding vibrations generated by more than 700,000 lbs. of thundering rocket thrust, spacecraft need a solid, reliable design if they hope to arrive operational on orbit. On July 13, Lockheed Martin (LMT)'s second, fully-assembled GPS III space vehicle (SV) completed a realistic simulation of its future launch experience and passed this critical acoustic environmental test with flying color...

Stevenage -  Europe’s pollution monitoring satellite Sentinel-5 Precursor has left Airbus’ Stevenage site and is on its way to the launch site, the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. Launch is currently planned on 9 October on a Rockot rocket. The journey that will last 5 days, will start with a flight to Moscow aboard an Antonov 124, followed by another flight to Archangelsk in the northwest of Russia. The last leg of the journey will be a train ride taking the satellite 200km south of Archange...

Star Storm, an explosive performance inspired by stellar processes in the Universe, will be premiered at the 2017 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, on 10 September. The creator of the show is Aoife van Linden Tol, the recipient of the first art&science@ESA residency organised by Ars Electronica in partnership with ESA. A multimedia artist working primarily with explosive materials, Aoife spent six weeks at ESA's technical heart in the Netherlands to research her project. Durin...

Orbital ATK, a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, announced its Minotaur IV space launch vehicle successfully launched and placed into orbit the U.S. Air Force's Operationally Responsive Space-5 (ORS-5) spacecraft on August 26, 2017. The Minotaur IV launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 46 (SLC-46), which is operated under license by Space Florida. This mission marks the 26th consecutive successful launch for the company's Minotaur product line. ...

Rockwell Collins recently delivered the latest generation of Digital GPS Anti-Jam Receiver (DIGAR) airborne anti-jam and anti-spoofing technology to the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). The enhanced solution provides unsurpassed airborne anti-jam capability with over 10,000 times improved jamming resistance over the previous model. "From advanced fifth-generation aircraft to ground and maritime applications, this receiver is the most reliable military-grade GPS solution avai...

Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, today announced it is in final preparations to launch the company's Minotaur IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Friday, August 25, at approximately 11:15 p.m. EDT. The Minotaur IV will carry the U.S. Air Force's Operationally Responsive Space-5 (ORS-5) spacecraft, which will monitor satellites and space debris to aid the U.S. military's space situational awareness. Building on the Minotaur...

ESA astronauts Samantha Cristoforetti and Matthias Maurer joined 16 Chinese astronauts earlier this month for nine days of sea survival training off China's coastal city of Yantai. The ultimate goal is for ESA to establish a long term cooperation with China and ESA astronauts to fly on China's space station. Returning from space, astronauts need to be prepared for any eventuality - including landing in water. Sea survival is a staple of all training but this is the first time that other ast...

NASA has selected Jacobs Technology of Tullahoma, Tennessee, to provide a broad spectrum of engineering and scientific support services at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The Engineering Services and Science Capability Augmentation (ESSCA) contract is a cost-plus-award-fee indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract that has a potential period of performance of eight years. It is a follow-on effort to the ESSSA contrac...

The industry-funded Low Cost Terminal (LCT) was successfully tested this month with an on-orbit Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite. This critical milestone demonstrates the ability of an affordable tactical terminal to connect with the DoD's most highly assured protected communications network. The industry development team is led by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT). The AEHF system, designed for both strategic and tactical users, enabl...

During almost four years of observing the cosmos, the Herschel Space Observatory traced out the presence of water. With its unprecedented sensitivity and spectral resolution at key wavelengths, Herschel revealed this crucial molecule in star-forming molecular clouds, detected it for the first time in the seeds of future stars and planets, and identified the delivery of water from interplanetary debris to planets in our Solar System.

Surveying the sky for almost four years to observe the glow of cold cosmic dust embedded in interstellar clouds of gas, the Herschel Space Observatory has provided astronomers with an unprecedented glimpse into the stellar cradles of our Galaxy. As a result, giant strides have been taken in our understanding of the physical processes that lead to the birth of stars and their planetary systems.

The international Cassini mission has concluded its remarkable exploration of the Saturnian system in spectacular style, by plunging into the gas planet's atmosphere.

Astronomers have discovered that the well-studied exoplanet WASP-12b reflects almost no light, making it appear essentially pitch black. This discovery sheds new light on the atmospheric composition of the planet and also refutes previous hypotheses about WASP-12b's atmosphere. The results are also in stark contrast to observations of another similarly sized exoplanet.

Scientists have used ESA's Venus Express to characterise the wind and upper cloud patterns on the night side of Venus for the first time–with surprising results.

Proposals are solicited for observations with XMM-Newton in response to the seventeenth Announcement of Opportunity, AO-17, issued 22 August 2017. This AO covers the period May 2018 to April 2019 and is open to proposers from all over the world.

The Royal Observatory of Belgium invites research proposals from potential Guest Investigators for the analysis of data from PROBA2's two solar observation instruments, SWAP and LYRA. Early-career post-docs and PhD students are particularly invited to apply, although proposals from more senior Guest Investigators are also encouraged. Proposals in response to this Call must be received by 24 September 2017, 23:59 CEST (21:59 UTC).

ARIEL, THOR, and XIPE, the three candidates for the M4 medium-class mission in ESA's Science Programme, will be presented to the science community at a special event in Paris on 3 July 2017. The deadline to register for this event is 10 June.

Last year, ESA called on the scientific community to propose new and innovative science ideas that could be relevant for future space missions within the Science Programme. From the proposals that were received three key areas of interest have been selected for further investigation.

Today, ESA launches a new version of its Planetary Science Archive (PSA) website, the online interface to data from the agency's space science missions that have been exploring planets, moons and other small bodies in the Solar System. With a new design and enhanced search functionalities, the platform now provides a direct and simple access to the scientific data, helping scientists to discover and explore the archive content.